{"id":22101,"date":"2015-12-25T02:18:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/spain-elections-king-felipe-calls-for-national\/"},"modified":"2015-12-25T02:17:31","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T02:17:31","slug":"spain-elections-king-felipe-calls-for-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/spain-elections-king-felipe-calls-for-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain elections: King Felipe calls for national unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

{King Felipe VI of Spain has appealed for unity and dialogue in his Christmas Eve message after elections at the weekend produced no conclusive result.}<\/p>\n

He called for “understanding and a fraternal spirit” to end uncertainty.<\/p>\n

The king also called for “national cohesion” in what correspondents say could be criticism of separatists in Catalonia.<\/p>\n

The king has a high opinion poll rating since taking over from his father Juan Carlos in June 2014.<\/p>\n

Next month he will hold discussions with the leaders of each party that won seats in parliament.<\/p>\n

“Political plurality, expressed at the ballot box, without a doubt offers different sensitivities, visions and perspectives; and it involves a way of exercising politics based on dialogue, consensus and commitment,” the king said in a televised holiday message.<\/p>\n

“Now, what should matter to all, first and foremost, is Spain and the general interest of the Spanish people,” the monarch said.<\/p>\n

The king made his address while sitting in a chair in the throne room of the royal palace in Madrid.<\/p>\n

In what some see as an appeal for Spain to remain a unitary state, he said: “I sincerely believe that we are living today in times where it is more necessary than ever to recognise everything that unites us.”<\/p>\n

His intervention comes after Spanish Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy compete to form the next government.<\/p>\n

Mr Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP) won Sunday’s vote but is 53 seats short of an absolute majority in the 350-seat chamber.<\/p>\n

For decades the Socialists and PP have alternated in government but the rise of two new parties, the left-wing Podemos (We Can) and liberal Ciudadanos (Citizens), has left Spanish politics fragmented.<\/p>\n

When Spain’s parliament reconvenes in January, King Felipe will ask a party leader to form a government and MPs will vote on his nomination.<\/p>\n

If they fail to elect a government within two months then fresh elections will follow.<\/p>\n

Doing the post-election sums:<\/p>\n

Grand coalition: Spain has never had a so-called grand coalition that would bring the Popular Party and the Socialists together – and the Socialists said on Monday they would not join a grand coalition
\n Grand coalition pact: Ciudadanos (Citizens) leader Albert Rivera wants the PP and Socialists to join with his party to prevent Catalonia moving to independence
\n Coalition of losers: The Socialists could link up with Podemos and Ciudadanos in a move that would echo the outcome of elections in Portugal last month
\n Regional solution: The Socialists could also strike a deal with Podemos and smaller regional parties that won just a few seats each, thereby removing the need for a deal with Ciudadanos<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Source:BBC:[Spain elections: King Felipe calls for national unity->http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-35178295]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{King Felipe VI of Spain has appealed for unity and dialogue in his Christmas Eve message after elections at the weekend produced no conclusive result.} He called for “understanding and a fraternal spirit” to end uncertainty. The king also called for “national cohesion” in what correspondents say could be criticism of separatists in Catalonia. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000071083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[249],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-22101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-bbc"],"bylines":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"contributors":[{"id":249,"name":"BBC","slug":"bbc","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":104}],"featured_image":{"id":2000071083,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22101.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000071083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22101"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=22101"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=22101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}